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Lu Ping supported Ieiri Shoko with one hand, steadily stepping back onto the bluestone ground of the shrine, which had been scorched black by the fierce flames.

As soon as she escaped that zone of absolute, stifling silence, Shoko could not help coughing violently a few times, greedily taking deep breaths of the cool night air mixed with a charred scent.

The moment their figures stood firm, and before Lu Ping could even regulate his breathing, a heavy palm slapped down on both of their shoulders.

Immediately afterward, Satoru Gojo extended his long arm and casually wrapped it around Lu Ping's shoulder.

"Yo~ Lu Ping! You performed quite brilliantly in this mission!"

A signature, malicious smile hung on Satoru Gojo's face. He lowered his head slightly, peering through the sunglasses that hung loosely on the bridge of his nose, and asked in a nearly critical yet intensely gossipy whisper:

"Fess up, kid. Have you been deliberately hiding your skills since the last mission, or did you suddenly 'have an epiphany' just now, making a temporary breakthrough to become stronger?"

To others, this might have seemed like just another one of Satoru Gojo's usual unserious antics, but within that divine field of vision known as the "Six Eyes," the entire battlefield was being frantically dismantled and reassembled.

Those "residual traces" scattered in the air presented a bizarre and viscous scarlet trajectory under the capture of the Six Eyes.

Even at the exact moment he confirmed survival, Satoru Gojo had already guessed that Lu Ping had gained something, but standing personally in the center of the ruins now, feeling the destructive power that had forcefully detonated a quasi-grade-1 technique shikigami, the tragedy and madness of this battle still exceeded his expectations.

In merely two days, the young man before him—a collateral bloodline of the Zenin Clan, who had fortuitously awakened the Ten Shadows Technique and whose cursed energy capacity was notoriously meager as a grade-2 underachiever—had given him two consecutive surprises!

What made Satoru Gojo feel even more alarmed was that the portion of the cursed energy belonging to the Ten Shadows Technique within the residual traces seemed to have undergone an essential and covert mutation catalyzed by some unknown force.

That special, profound, and cold cursed energy residual trace carrying a certain quality of devouring living souls indicated that Lu Ping's understanding of this pinnacle technique of the Three Great Families had clearly stepped onto a completely new level.

Developing at this monstrous speed of evolution... perhaps this kid really could become the first strongest Ten Shadows user in thousands of years to completely tame the legendary "Foreign Divine General, Mahoraga"!

Satoru Gojo's heart leaped slightly with excitement, and he felt joyous over Lu Ping's rapid growth.

A fighting intent—a longing to spar and cross blows with a truly strong person—flashed through his chest, but he quickly suppressed this impulse.

He was very well aware that the heights he and Suguru Geto currently stood at still maintained quite a lead.

Pointing this out now would be meaningless aside from adding unnecessary pressure to the other party.

At this very moment, however, Satoru Gojo had truly come to regard the usually silent teenager as a comrade to whom he could entrust his back.

He needed to secretly help this kid out; he couldn't let him walk too slowly on this path—he should catch up to his and Suguru's footsteps sooner.

"Both are possible, and that is the answer."

Suguru Geto walked over from the shadows with steady paces, gently nodding toward Lu Ping, and blinked his slender eyes:

"No matter what, we fell entirely and thoroughly for the other party's carefully constructed 'diverting the tiger from the mountain' ruse regarding this attack on the shrine."

He turned his head slightly to look at the distant brightly lit city skyline, a hint of self-deprecation carrying in his tone:

"From the inland core of Shinjuku Jujutsu High to the nearest Tokyo Port, the straight-line distance is nearly ten kilometers. Moreover, the grade-1 curse responsible for stalling us at the harbor dock had an aura-concealing type of technique.

Coupled with that complex terrain filled with modern storage warehouses, container yards, and cross-sea bridges, it genuinely delayed us for quite a bit of time."

Mentioning this, Suguru Geto's handsome face darkened slightly: "The intelligence leaks within Jujutsu High were far too precise; someone among the higher-ups of the jujutsu world definitely sold our whereabouts and mission movements to the curse user.

Fortunately, you were here tonight, Lu Ping. As a grade-2 sorcerer, you contributed the most in this fierce battle, even making both Satoru and me feel somewhat ashamed."

Hearing the words "higher-ups leaked information," the mockery in Satoru Gojo's eyes instantly vanished, replaced by a trace of gloominess.

"Those rotten oranges among the higher-ups—sooner or later, I'm going to smash all their heads into the mud."

Yet this oppressive atmosphere lasted for only half a second before Satoru Gojo patted Lu Ping's back and agreed:

"Suguru is right; we owe it all to you tonight. Not only did you protect Ieiri Shoko—this medical core possessing an immeasurable, absolute strategic value to the entire jujutsu world.

More importantly, you protected the friend that Suguru and I cherish the most. For that reason, I've decided to give you a grand gift you cannot refuse once we get back. As for what it is, it's a secret for now, hehe."

Ieiri Shoko, who had remained silent all this time, rubbed her aching wrists, her clear gaze falling onto Lu Ping's slightly exhausted profile.

As someone who had personally experienced this fierce battle, no one knew better than her what a painful price Lu Ping had paid tonight.

That dark red giant beast, capable of standing toe-to-toe with a grade-1 sorcerer, had self-destructed right before their eyes in such a completely unrecognizable manner.

"Instead of some confidential gift, Satoru, Suguru, we should jointly submit a report to instructor Yaga now, forcibly making Lu Ping take a break for a period of time. Absolutely no more assigning him to upcoming missions."

Shoko's voice was calm yet carried an unquestionable resoluteness:

"As a shikigami user, the core mechanism of the Ten Shadows Technique lies in the assistance of shadow familiars. Once the shikigami acting as the main force are killed in battle, it means that well over half of his combat methods have been savagely carved away.

Before re-taming or inheriting abilities to other higher-tier shikigami and reconstructing the combat power matching his own rating, continuing to go out on missions is tantamount to suicide."

Satoru Gojo and Suguru Geto exchanged a glance, both reading agreement in each other's eyes.

"Totally agree."

Satoru Gojo ruffled his silver hair and took full charge, saying, "If the higher-ups dare to shove missions his way at a time like this, I'll go and smash all their teahouses and wheelchairs into pieces."

Amidst this intense discussion surrounding subsequent punishments and holidays among the top trio of Jujutsu High, Lu Ping, standing in place, simply bathed quietly in the cold moonlight.

A fierce joy of surviving a calamity washed over his tense nerves like the tide, wave after wave.

This jubilation and ease stemming from biological instinct were transforming into an extremely refined nutrient under the nearly cheating conversion mechanism of the lurking [Three Corpses Manipulation] within his body, silently broadening the upper limit of his depleted cursed energy reserve.

Although this was not some violent breakthrough that brought about a qualitative leap in strength, this sense of growing stronger—where he could clearly perceive his foundation deepening inch by inch and every step taken with absolute solidity—filled Lu Ping with extra reassurance.

The Daoist scriptures state: "In pursuit of the Dao, one diminishes daily; in pursuit of learning, one increases daily."

His cultivation method of continuously stripping away and reducing his own negative burdens and fearful emotions every day through the Three Corpses technique, then purifying them into pure energy, might, on some level, precisely coincide with that obscure and profound natural law of the Great Dao.

Lu Ping mentally took stock of the gains and losses of this battle.

He was well aware that his current comprehensive combat power positioning, under fully unleashed conditions, infinitely approached a quasi-grade-1 sorcerer, and truly stepping across that watershed of grade 1 was also within reach.

However, the strange chemical reaction produced after the combination of the Ten Shadows Technique and his innate Three Corpses Manipulation was still not fully grasped by him; the variables within it were simply too many.

If the battlefield hadn't coincidentally been chosen inside this ancient shrine tonight—where thick civilian prayers and panicked negative emotions during the attack had accumulated year-round, providing his Three Corpses with almost inexhaustible "raw materials" to supply Crimson Shadow with near-infinite cursed energy—

He would certainly not have gotten off with any advantage when facing that veteran grade-1 curse user.

Simultaneously, this tragic and sudden battle completely exposed the most fatal shortcoming of his identity as a shikigami user.

That was—physical strength.

No matter how bizarre and flashy the surface manifestations of jujutsu evolved into, the underlying core logic always revolved around those two words: melee combat, meaning the physical body.

That is, utilizing cursed energy to the extreme to reinforce physical muscles before engaging in high-intensity close-quarters hand-to-hand combat.

And because shikigami users need to allocate a considerable portion of cursed energy and stamina to additionally maintain and manipulate shikigami, it resulted in a massive reduction in the proportion of cursed energy that could be left to reinforce their own main body.

In life-and-death games at the same tier, a sorcerer's fragile main body often became the easiest breakthrough point for the opponent to tear open.

Yet once the weakness of the physical body is completely patched up... Lu Ping's gaze flickered slightly in the moonlight.

Those cursed energy creations that knew no fear and understood no fatigue would become the most perfect killing machines in this world.

To achieve this equilibrium, the only two things he needed to do right now were:

First, continue developing and use the Three Corpses to steadily broaden his cursed energy upper limit until the total cursed energy volume within his body could simultaneously and perfectly support the terrifying consumption of maintaining shikigami and reinforcing his physical body, thereby maintaining his strengths;

Second, he must begin hellish physical combat special training to forge his physical body's baseline attributes to a degree capable of withstanding a grade-2 sorcerer's full-strength punch, patching up his weaknesses.

When Satoru Gojo and the other two finally finished reviewing the tedious battle around the container- and cross-sea-bridge-filled Tokyo Port district and steered the topic back to the present scene, Lu Ping had also completed his plotting in his heart.

He raised his head, meeting the gazes of those two hailed as the strongest of the contemporary era, and asked a doubt that had lingered in his mind from beginning to end:

"Since the other party could mobilize a grade-1 curse user and even possess the massive energy to accurately calculate your whereabouts through higher-higher intelligence...

Then why would they go to such great lengths, specifically choosing to attack this dilapidated shrine that looks completely unremarkable besides holding folk festivals?"